Audit confirms suspicions about missing funds

A state audit confirms suspicions that a former eastern Iowa jail administrator may have pocketed thousands of dollars.

Gwen Wathan was administrator of the Tama County Jail for 11 years, until she was fired last December. A state audit identified almost $47,0o0 of undeposited collections and unbilled room and board fees.

Here’s the break down: the audit found over $18,000 in room and board fees weren’t deposited; more than $11,000 from the jail commissary wasn’t deposited and over $5,000 of cash bonds received for individuals with warrants outside of Tama County weren’t deposited either. Finally, almost $12,000 in room and board fees from jail inmates were not billed.

The Tama County sheriff and Board of Supervisors asked for the audit after the irregularities came to light. While Wathan worked at the Tama County jail for 11 years, the auditors reviewed records from the last four years of her tenure as jail administrator.